Tuesday, April 5, 2011

We always say that time flies, but my goodness - this phrase has never rung truer for me. Two days ago, Ezaias turned five weeks old! What? One month and a week? Where did the time go?

I have wanted to update this blog so many times, but if it hasnt been high on my priority list before, it definitely hasnt been in the last month! Besides, I'm JUST arriving at some semblance of a routine.

My Birth Story

On Thursday, February 24th, I had a prenatal appointment. I was about 38 weeks pregnant and the nurse practitioner told me that I was 1 cm dilated and 90% effaced (You need to be 10 cm and 100% for delivery). She told us that she would be surprised if I made it to my next prenatal appointment - which was the following Thursday. Boy, was she right!

On Saturday, February 26th, Hubby and I woke up to get ready for church as usual. I actually felt a little icky because I had a cold, but I had no idea what I would experience in the upcoming hours. We got to church, ate breakfast and went inside for service. Right before going into the sanctuary for service, a lady at my church mentioned to Hubby and I that she had a dream that I had given birth before my due date (which was 3/9). Hubby mentioned to her that he had a similar dream.

At about 10:30 am I started feeling like I needed to go to the bathroom (#2). So, I kept going to the restroom, but nothing was released, except for some gas, LOL :O I then googled the symptoms I was having and found that some people experienced these symptoms (gas pains, feeling the urge to defecate) during early labor. Anyway, these symptoms came and went, but there was nothing to be alarmed about (YET).The church service went on and our Praise & Worship session began. I am active member of the Praise Team, so I went up with the rest of the team to lead the congregation into worship. As I recall, it was an awesome day of worship! After Praise & Worship was over, I went to sit down, but had to get back up shortly after because I had to lead a song for our special music presentation. As I walked up towards the front of sanctuary, a lady in the front (the same one that told me about her dream) said to me "Go ahead, this will be the last time you will be singing for a while". As I sang, I just prayed that I'd get through the song because my uterus started to feel a little weird.

As soon as I sat down I had my first (well later on I realized this is what it was) contraction. I wasnt sure it was a contraction, but it was something that I had never felt before and while enduring it, I had to squirm in my seat and hold on the the chair in front of me. Many people ask what contractions feel like and I would say they feel like really intense menstrual cramps that I had to breath heavily through, stiffen my body through and hold on to the nearest object. Shortly thereafter, Hubby sent me a text saying that he was taking me home right after church (we usually stay for lunch and had also plan to go to another church for an ordination service). Apparently, he could tell by my body language that I probably wouldn't make it through the rest of the day.

We arrived home at about 3:00 pm and since I felt the first contraction, they were coming every 5-7 mins and they were about 30-45 seconds apart. I hopped right into bed and went to sleep. Well, whatever sleep I could get in between these contractions. Surprisingly, I fell into a deep sleep in between the contractions. This was probably possible because I felt like I was in "heaven" after enduring each contractions that I just dozed right off after they were over. Besides, the contractions took so much energy out of me, that I felt extremely relaxed afterwards. As I "slept", my husband cleaned, packed his bag and ran out to the store for some necessary supplies. He even came into our room and took a 2 hr nap. In between contractions and naps, I tried keeping up with the text messages I was receiving from those people who were at church with us and knew what was going on.

At about 9 pm, I could tell that my husband was ready to go to the hospital. He was sooo excited! Me, on the other hand was starting to get nervous and I started to stall. I wanted to shower before we left, but it took me forever to get into the shower. I had been experiencing these contractions since 1:30 in the afternoon and the pain from the contractions were starting to get to me, but I was nervous about giving birth. I was also worried that they would send me back home (as I have heard has happened to people). I really didnt want to be sent back home to deal with this pain on my own (without medication, that is). During some of my contractions I felt nauseous, but during one of the nauseous contractions shortly before we went to the hospital actually induced vomit (not fun!). Hubby had been trying to get me to eat all afternoon/evening, but I had NO appetite so whatever I threw up was from what I ate in the morning.

I finally ate, showered and at 10 pm we headed to the hospital. When we arrived, they asked their 50 million questions and then asked me to change into the hospital gown. The nurse checked me and said I was 3-4 cm dilated. She said they would monitor me for the next hour to see whether or not they will admit me. Im like "What?!" However, she came back within like 30 minutes and said they were going to take me to a room based on my dilation. My mom had arrived by this time. As they were about to lead me to my room, I experienced another nauseous contraction and vomited (the food my husband so desperately wanted me to eat).

Once settled in my room, the nurse came with lots of papers for me to sign and also asked me if I wanted an epidural. She explained to me that there was another pain medication that they offered, but they couldn't give it to me because Ezaias was reactive. Basically, he was probably sleeping or already sleepy and the medication would make him even more sleepy and that's not ideal for a delivery. Nonetheless, they could give me the epidural with no issue. I said YES to the epidural right away. After enduring the contractions for 9 hours (by this time it was 10:45 pm) I was DONE with them. I had to finish a bag of the IV fluid before they could call the anesthesiologist, but by 11:30 pm I had my epidural and once again, I was in HEAVEN! Lol. Getting the epidural really wasnt horrible at all. I felt a pinch and burn that lasted about 10 seconds and that was it. The anesthesiologist kept saying "You may feel pressure now", but I didnt feel any pressure. At this time, I was able to catch up with all my texts and tweets.

As the hours went by, I continued to dilate pretty quickly. The nurse kept coming in to check on me because Ezaias' heartbeat kept dropping. So, she kept repositioning me and this seemed to help. Hubby and I didnt sleep at all. He was too excited/anxious and I just wasnt tired (although I was exhausted when I arrived at the hospital). At about 5 am, I was 9 cm dilated, but my water didn't break. Two different nurses tried to break it, but they had no success. They finally called the doctor in who used some tool to break it. The nurse soon told me that she'd be back shortly and that we were going to push. Like ahhh what?! Really?! It's that time already?!!It came time to push and this where I experienced some challenges. They wanted me to push and since I was numb (due to the epidural), I had no idea if I was pushing correctly or at all! I tried as best as I could, but still didn't know if I was progressing. The nurses, my hubby and mom kept reassuring me that I was doing well and informing me when they could see the head. Towards the end, I heard the doctor snipping and I'm sure he was giving me an episiotomy (I couldn't feel it though) and I did one last push and at 6:18 am - Ezaias made his appearance! He was slinky, slimy, skinny, discolored and quiet. Best of all he was OURS!!! And finally here!!

They took him away to clean and suction him and then he finally cried! What a relief :) They then handed me the most precious thing! He was sooo tiny - 5 lbs, 8 oz - but he was PERFECT!

Here are a few pictures he took before we left the hospital (by the way, he looks NOTHING like this now!! LOL):

I didnt include every single detail (so as not to bore you too much lol), but overall, my labor and delivery went smoothly. It went much better than I expected and there is a very great chance that my husband and I will do this again in the future!!! :)

What do you remember about your delivery? What do you fear about your upcoming delivery? What concerns did/do you have?

11 comments:

Awww. This was great! Gives me hope. LOL I wouldn't want to be sent home either. Thats one thing I fear..mainly for them cause I will raise Hell! LOL Unless they give me an epidural and wheel me home, I'm not leaving! Congrats Miss...Looking forward to my L&D even tho I'm terrified. I want my baby in my arms!

Awesome birth story!!! :-) praise God for his amazing blessings! Thanks forActually talking about how it feels to get an epi! I have a feeling I'll be getting one if they have to give me syntocinon (I think they call it pitocin in the US) I'm not worried now, I'm eager to have him here though!

I'll be ready to go in June and surprisingly I'm not scared. I can't wait to see her. The only thing that does worry me is the drive to the hospital. It's 40-45 minutes away with no traffic but during tourist season it's off the hook and I'd rather not have a birth story that begins and ends in my husbands Impala SS- lol

LOVE your birth story! It inspired me to finally write mine :)I think you are so brave for being in labour for such a long time...but it was well worth it, he is absolutely adorable!I was worried about being sent home too, or hubby being sent home and me left alone....until I found out from my midwife that they weren't allowed to do that :)!If you'd like to read how I went, you can read it here: